1. Field of Invention
This invention relates in general to data traffic regulation in networks. More specifically, the invention relates to methods and systems for data traffic regulation in a data switching environment such as virtual private local area network systems.
2. Description of the Background Art
The need to transfer data such as work files, audio files, etc., has increased exponentially today. This has given rise to the concept of connecting customer edges such as computer workstations, data servers, etc., by local area network (LAN) and wide area network (WAN) and Internet, depending on the geographical distribution of the customer edges. Data transfer needs also gave rise to virtual LAN (VLAN), wherein the data transfer takes place in the same manner as customer edges are connected in a LAN, despite the geographical separation between them. VLAN is defined as a group of devices on different physical LAN segments that can communicate with each other as if they were all on the same physical LAN segment. Data transfer between customer edges present in two different VLANs is possible with the help of data switching environments, which enables data transfer at faster rates. Various VLANs are connected to a provider edge (PE) and various provider edges (PEs) are connected to a data switching system. In one of the networking solutions, various VLANs are connected to multiple provider edges (PEs). These PEs are interconnected with the help of a data switching system to create a single distributed VLAN, which appears as a single entity. Two different provider edges are connected to each other virtually by one or more virtual circuits (VCs) through which the data transfer takes place with the help of the data switching system. Data switching system provides the infrastructure to enable the exchange of data between various VLANs, LANS, virtual private networks (VPN), and the like. Exemplary data switching systems include multi protocol label switching system (MPLS) that enables data transfer in a data switching environment, such as virtual private LAN systems (VPLS).
When a user wants to send any data packet to another user in the same VLAN but at a geographically distributed site, the data packet transfer in a data switching environment takes place in the following manner. The user in the VLAN sends the data packet to a provider edge connected to it. At the provider edge, the data packet is transferred to one or all the active VCs connected to the provider edge. Each of these VCs subsequently sends the data packet through the data switching system to another provider edge, to which the recipient customer edge is connected. This provider edge then transfers the data to the recipient customer edge.
However, in this communication, the data packets can get replicated on all the active VCs before sending them to the data switching system. This results in the flooding of the data traffic, which may in turn hampers the smooth transfer of data and results in delays and loss in data transmission. It also disrupts the working of the data switching system.